Intimidated by inertia? Frightened by forces? Mystified by Newton s law of motion? You re not alone and help is at hand. The stop Faking It! Series is perfect for science teachers, home-schoolers, parents wanting to help with homework all of you who need a jargon-free way to learn the background for teaching middle school physical science with confidence. With Bill Roberton as your friendly, able but somewhat irreverent guide, you will discover you CAN come to grips with the basics of force and motion. Combining easy-to-understand explanations with activities using commonly found equipment, this book will lead you through Newton s laws to the physics of space travel. The book is as entertaining as it is informative. Best of all, the author understands the needs of adults who want concrete examples, hands-on activities, clear language, diagrams and yes, a certain amount of empathy. Ideas For Use Newton's laws, and all of the other motion principles presented in this book, do a good job of helping us to understand, explain, and predict the world around us. We can use them to get to the Moon, design roller coasters, and develop safety regulations for cars. However, there are situations in this book where all the motion stuff is just plain wrong-- as a result of Albert Einsteins' corrections to the law of motion--which will be addressed in another Stop Faking It! book. Additional Info Science Discipline: (mouse over for full classification) Acceleration Friction Gravity Inertia Mass Newton s laws of motion Speed Vectors Velocity Experimenting Using mathematics Intended User Role: Curriculum Supervisor, Elementary-Level Educator, Middle-Level Educator, Parent, Professional Development Provider, Teacher Educational Issues: Classroom management, Curriculum, Informal education, Inquiry learning, Instructional materials, Professional development, Teacher content knowledge, Teacher preparation Contents Preface SciLinks Chapter 1: Newton s First One Chapter 2: In Which We Describe Motion and Then Change It Chapter 3: Newton s Second One Chapter 4: There s No Such Thing as Gravity The Earth Sucks Chapter 5: Newton s Third Chapter 6: Round and Round and Round In the Circle Game Chapter 7: To the Moon, Alice! Glossary Index

Force and Motion: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It

Robertson, William C.

Science & Math

NSTA

Why is left right and right left in the mirror? Baffled by the basics of reflection and refraction? Wondering just how the eye works? If you have trouble teaching concepts about light that you don t fully grasp yourself, get help from a book that s both scientifically accurate and entertaining with Light. By combining clear explanations, clever drawings, and activities that use easy-to-find materials, this book covers what science teachers and parents need to know to teach about light with confidence. It uses ray, wave, and particle models of light to explain the basics of reflection and refraction, optical instruments, polarization of light, and interference and diffraction. There s also an entire chapter on how the eye works. Each chapter ends with a Summary and Applications section that reinforces concepts with everyday examples. Whether you need a deeper understanding of how light bends or a good explanation of why the sky is blue, you ll find Light more illuminating and accessible than a college textbook and certainly more fun.

Light (Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It series)

Physics

Natl Science Teachers Assn

Shocked by static? Mixed up about magnets? Curious about currents? This book will help you get beyond memorizing electricity-related formulas, rules, and procedures so you can understand the topic at a deep level deep enough to teach it with confidence and comfort. By covering the basics of static electricity, current electricity, and magnetism, the book develops a scientific model showing that electricity and magnetism are really the same phenomenon in different forms. A bonus feature: access to interactive software that you can download from the NSTA Web site. The software will help you investigate electrical circuits from simple to complex without having to buy a lot of expensive materials (or risking electrocution!). Electricity and Magnetism is the fifth title in the award-winning NSTA Press Stop Faking It! Series. As author Bill Robertson writes, The book you have in your hands is not a textbook. It is, however, designed to help you get science at a level you never thought possible, and also to bring you to the point where tackling more traditional science resources won t be a terrifying, lump-in-your-throat, I-don t-think-I ll-survive experience. Robertson serves as your friendly guide, one with a comforting knack for anticipating fears, meeting information needs, and entertaining as he edifies.

Electricity And Magnetism: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

Thunderstruck by storm fronts? Perplexed about air pressure? Hazy on how weather works? If you've always been shaky on the science behind such phenomena, Air, Warter, and Weather is designed to help you develop a deep understanding of the basics so you can teach without fear. Best-selling author Bill Robertson acts as your friendly guide, bringing both wisdom and wit to the study of weather. He starts with basic properties of air and water. You'll learn about pressure, the Coriolis force, the Bernoulli Effect, density, and explanations of why hot air doesn't rise all by itself and why heating air doesn't necessarily cause it to expand. These concepts from a foundation for explanations of weather patterns, including the jet stream, storm fronts, and the formation of tornadoes and hurricanes. Air, Water, and Weather is the sixth book in the award-winning Stop Faking It! series published by NSTA Press. It offers all the features readers have come to love: accurate explanations, irreverent drawings and activities that use easy-to-find materials.

Air, Water, & Weather: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It

Earth Sciences

Best-selling author Bill Robertson takes a fresh approach to chemistry fundamentals by helping you understand them from the ground up. Instead of hounding you to memorize the characteristics of atoms and the periodic table, Chemistry Basics will help you see those characteristics as a natural consequence of our understanding of

Stop Faking It! Chemistry Basics

Chemistry

Flummoxed by formulas? Queasy about equations? Perturbed by pi? Now you can stop cursing over calculus and start cackling over Math, the newest volume in Bill Robertson's accurate and amusing Stop Faking It! books. Like the other six titles in this award-winning NSTA Press series, Math is meant for homework-helping parents, math-averse science teachers, and homeschoolers. It's written for everyone who lacks the background to teach with confidence and is sick of relying on avoidance strategies. As Robertson sees it, too many people view mathematics as a set of rules to be followed, procedures to memorize, and theorems to apply. This book takes a unique approach by focusing on the reasoning behind the rules, from math basics all the way up to a brief introduction to calculus. Among the questions it covers: Why do you 'carry' numbers when adding? Why do you need a common denominator when adding fractions? (Robertson says you don't, by the way!) What's behind the process of cross-multiplying? Where does the number pi come from? And who in the heck invented those strange formulas for area and volume? As usual, Robertson provides clear explanations, irreverent illustrations, and easy-to-follow activities. But he spares you problem sets to do or tests to take. That's because Math is not so much a book that will help you do math as it is a guide to understanding it conceptually.

Math (Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It)

Mathematics

Overwhelmed by orbitals? Terrified of thermodynamics? Agitated by acids and bases? Have no fear! This follow-up to the award-winning Chemistry Basics will clear up your chemistry woes.
In More Chemistry Basics, the ninth book in the Stop Faking It! series, author Bill Robertson introduces additional chemistry concepts, such as special reactions and half-lives, and expands on many previously discussed ideas, including electron energy levels and why we can't know exactly what electrons are doing and where they are. Roberston explains science basics using easy-to-follow activities that help teachers learn the fundamentals and more.
Like other books in this series, More Chemistry Basics will prove invaluable for teachers, parents, and home-school providers who want to feel greater confidence in the content they teach. Roberson's humourous and honest approach will help you brush up on chemisty concepts and feel more prepared, even excited, to teach chemistry to your students.

More Chemistry Basics: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It

NSTA Press

This valuable and entertaining compendium of Bill Robertson's popular "Science 101" columns, from NSTA member journal Science and Children, proves you don't have to be a science geek to understand basic scientific concepts. The author of the best-selling Stop Faking It! series explains everything from quarks to photosynthesis, telescopes to the expanding universe, and atomic clocks to curveballs, all with his trademark wit and irreverence.
The 33 short columns, plus a new introduction, provide an introductory science course of sorts, covering topics in life science, Earth and space science, physical science, technology, and more, perfect for K - 8 teachers, homeschoolers, or parents who just want to boost their science know-how. Easily understood prose and lively illustrations by cartoonist Brian Diskin make this volume an engaging, and more important, readable, course you can pass with flying colours.

Answers to Science Questions from the Stop Faking It! Guy

Never has it been so easy for educators to learn to teach physical science with confidence. Award-winning author Bill Robertson launched his bestselling Stop Faking It! series in 2002 with Force and Motion--offering elementary and middle school teachers a jargon-free way to learn the background for teaching physical science with confidence. Combining easy-to-understand if irreverent explanations and quirky diagrams, Stop Faking It! Force and Motion helped thousands of teachers, parents, and homeschoolers conquer topics from Newton s laws to the physics of space travel. Now Companion Classroom Activities for Stop Faking It! Force and Motion proves an ideal supplement to the original book or a valuable resource of its own. The hands-on activities and highly readable explanations allow students to first investigate concepts, then discuss learned concepts, and finally apply the concepts to everyday situations. Robertson's wit and humor are sure to keep students and teachers entertained while they tackle topics such as acceleration, speed, and gravity. Each activity includes an objective, materials list, National Science Education Standards addressed, approximate completion time, and detailed step-by-step instructions. Student pages for recording observations and student evaluation questionnaires to help assess understanding are also provided.

Companion Classroom Activities for Stop Faking It! Force and Motion

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Books by Robertson, William C.